History: The oldest references to a map and crack tradition in the Electoral Saxon administration date from around 1556 and refer to a collection of maps and books which Elector August kept at Annaburg Palace and which reached Dresden after his death (1586). The Electoral Chamber of Art, founded around 1560, also included maps from the very beginning. Around 1600 there is evidence of a planning chamber in Dresden's main armoury, the core of which evolved from the state surveys and surveying work of the 16th and 17th centuries. At the latest since the turn of the 18th century a map and crack tradition began to develop in the authorities and authority archives. 1806 is considered the founding year of the military plan chamber, a camera surveying authority was established in 1814, in the same year the financial plan chamber was established at the financial archive. Since 1835, maps and plans have also been produced on a large scale by the cadastral authorities; in addition, a special forest surveying institute has been set up. Parts of this tradition - above all the map holdings of the Secret Archive - were transferred to the Main State Archives as early as 1834 and initially set up there as Section XI "Maps, Topographical Sheets, Drawings, Seals and Images". The map and crack inventory received a larger increase in the form of levies from the General Staff (1856), the Finanzplankammer (1888), the Domänenvermessungsbüro (1899), the Zentralbüro für Steuervermessung (1910, 1914), and the Straßen- und Wasserbauämter (1911), the Bergamt Freiberg, the General Directorate of State Railways, the Agricultural Offices and the Corps of Engineers (all 1918), the Oberhofmarschallamt (1921), the War Archives (1925), the Landesvermessungsamt and the Landesregierung Sachsen (1952).<br /><br />The stock of 12884 cards and cracks is a mixed stock, which includes not only documents from the registry but also extensive collection material. It continues to grow as a result of individual acquisitions of collection items, above all through the ongoing takeover of the printed official map series of Saxon state authorities. Newly received archived maps, which originate from the official registry context, are assigned to the inventory of the respective registry creator. A more extensive map tradition for the period of the 19th and early 20th centuries can thus be found above all in the cadastral and forestry authorities. Older maps and cracks from the period from the 16th to the 19th century are also kept in the holdings of 10006 Oberhofmarschallamt, 11345 Ingenieurkorps and 11373 Kartensammlung des Kriegsarchivs in particular; it is also worth mentioning the corn crocodile copies produced around 1900 in the holdings of 13403 Sächsische Flurnamenstelle.<br /><br />The "Maps and Cracks" collection contains maps and large-scale plans as well as an extensive collection of architectural plans and elevations, especially from the 16th to 19th centuries. The maps are mainly manuscript maps, including the following The collection includes early maps of pictorial disputes and other depictions from a central perspective, as well as the testimonies of the three great Saxon state surveys (Matthias Öder and Balthasar Zimmermann, since 1586; Adam Friedrich Zürner and Mitarbeiter, since 1712; Landesaufnahme durch das Ingenieurkorps der sächsischen Armee, so-called Meilenblätter, since 1780), plus countless, often large-scale works by 17th- and 18th-century land surveyors, some of which relate to larger areas, some to local features. Another important complex is the handwritten corridor maps of the cadastral surveys since 1835, as far as they are not assigned to the holdings of the cadastral offices. Already from the 16th century, mainly from the 18th century, numerous products of publishing cartography have been preserved, including Peter Schenck's Atlas Saxonicus Novus. These are joined by printed maps and map series of the 19th and 20th centuries, including many city maps. The collection also includes the official topographic and thematic map series since the first half of the 19th century (including the Oberreitscher Atlas, the Equidistant Map, the Messtischblätter and other smaller-scale map series, topographic maps of the GDR, topographic and thematic maps of the Free State of Saxony since 1990).<br /><br />The archivist Johannes Falke carried out a first order of maps and cracks between 1863 and 1865. From 1906 onwards the collection - together with the picture tradition (now 13410 pictures) - was systematically reopened by Hans Beschorner. The finding aid created at that time also provides evidence of maps and cracks in other holdings and thus also serves as a comprehensive map and crack inventory for the older tradition of the Main State Archives. It has a geographical-systematic structure, which is continuously updated.<br /><br />>contents: Picture dispute maps.- Topographical maps.- Maps of individual districts, offices, dominions and other administrative units.- Border maps.- Land maps and cadastral maps.- City maps.- Forest maps.- Hydraulic engineering maps (rivers, rafts, canals).- Road maps.- Mining cracks, geological maps.- Military maps (military campaigns, manoeuvres) - Other thematic maps and cracks (e.g. dioceses, archbishoprics, consistories, parochia, bridges, gardens, mountains, seas, sea parts, coasts, meadows, vineyards) - Historical maps elevations and ground plans of buildings and parks - fortress plans (e.g. Dresden, Leipzig, Königstein, Torgau) - design drawings for furniture and building equipment - technical drawings - spatial focal points: Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony including the territories ceded in 1815, Free State of Saxony since 1919, District of Dresden since 1952, Free State of Saxony since 1990 as well as individual towns, above all Dresden - Germany - Mansfeld, County - Lower Lusatia - Upper Lusatia - Austria (including Bohemia) - Prussia (including Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt) - Imperial Circles - Saxony-Anhalt). Reußische Herrschaften.- Schlesien.- Schönburgische Besitzungen.- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.- Sondershausen.- Stolberg, Grafschaft.- Thüringen.- Czechoslovakia from 1919, Czech Republic - Warsaw, Duchy.<br /><br />Numerous maps of the holdings 12884 maps and cracks can be viewed online in the "Kartenforum" of the Deutsche Fotothek (www.deutschefotothek.de). The "Kartenforum" is an information portal of libraries, museums and archives, supported by the DFG and maintained by the Deutsche Fotothek (Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek). At present, about 20,000 of the most important, high-resolution digitized cartographic sources - especially on the history and regional studies of Saxony - from the collections of the participating partners are offered there. <br /><br />From the holdings of 12884 maps and cracks, the results of the three large historical Saxon state surveys :<br /><br />- the manuscript maps of the first Saxon state survey of 1586-1634 ("Ur-Öder" 1:13) can be found in the "Map Forum".333; "Öder-Zimmermann" 1:53.333)<br />- the two versions of Adam Friedrich Zürner's handwritten "Atlas Augusteus" (c. 1730)<br />- the "Dresden copy" of the so-called "Meilenblätter" 1:12,000(Landesaufnahme durch das Ingenieurkorps der sächsischen Armee, 1780-1824).